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Tibetan / Vajrayana

Vajrayana Buddhism is most closely associated with Tibet and can be characterized by the figure of the siddha, the master whose spiritual realization is so profound that he or she has power over the phenomenal world, and in whom the profundity and vastness of absolute truth is fully and completely manifested. Many of our most well-known authors come from this tradition of Tibetan Buddhism .

[Note: The tags for the various schools are not definitive as many books span multiple traditions, etc. They are meant to use as a starting point for exploring this collection.]

Milarepa (1040–1123) is perhaps the best-known and most beloved religious figure in Tibetan Buddhism, celebrated throughout the Tibetan Buddhist world with the recitation of his teaching songs by monastics and laypeople alike. The archetype of the ordinary being who overcomes nearly insurmountable obstacles on the spiritual path through the sheer force of effort, faith, and perseverance, he is remembered for having achieved enlightenment “in a single lifetime.”This volume, like its… Read More

Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö (1893–1959), the previous incarnation of Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, was an essential bridge between the ecumenical Rime masters of the nineteenth century (Ju Mipham, Patrul Rinpoche, Chogyur Lingpa, Jamgön Kongtrul) and the lamas of today (Dilgo Khyentse, Tulku Thondup, Sogyal Rinpoche, and so many others). The staggeringly long lists of all the teachings he received and passed on testify to his abiding appreciation for all aspects of… Read More

She was the first Western woman to become a Tibetan Buddhist nun—but that pioneering ordination was really just one in a life full of revolutionary acts. Freda Bedi (1911–1977) broke the rules of gender, race, and religion—in many cases before it was thought that the rules were ready to be challenged. She was at various times a force in the struggle for Indian independence, spiritual seeker, scholar, professor, journalist, author,… Read More

He went from being the worst kind of malevolent sorcerer to a devoted and ascetic Buddhist practitioner to a completely enlightened being all in a single lifetime. The story of Milarepa (1040–1123) is a tale of such extreme and powerful transformation that it might be thought not to have much direct application to our own less dramatic lives—but Chögyam Trungpa shows otherwise. This collection of his teachings on the life… Read More

Until the early twentieth century, hardly any traces of the Tibetan tradition of Chinese Chan Buddhism, or Zen, remained. Then the discovery of a sealed cave in Dunhuang, full of manuscripts in various languages dating from the first millennium CE, transformed our understanding of early Zen. This book translates some of the earliest surviving Tibetan Zen manuscripts preserved in Dunhuang. The translations illuminate different aspects of the Zen tradition, with… Read More

The epic of Gesar has been the national treasure of Tibet for almost a thousand years. An open canon of tales about a superhuman warrior-king, the epic is still a living oral tradition, included on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. This book is a translation of the beginning portion of this enormous corpus, covering all the events from Gesar’s divine conception to his human birth… Read More

This fourteenth-century Tibetan classic serves as an excellent introduction to basic Buddhism as practiced throughout India and Tibet and describes the process of entering the Buddhist path through study and reflection. It begins with setting forth the structure of Buddhist education and the range of its subjects, and we’re treated to a rousing litany of the merits of such instruction. We’re then introduced to the buddhas of our world… Read More

Tibet’s great national literary treasure, the epic of Gesar, is the equivalent of the Iliad or the Odyssey in the West. It arose out of a comparable oral tradition, beginning in the eleventh century, and is now considered the longest single work in the world literary canon. King Gesar’s exploits are full of magic and high adventure, and are also models of Buddhist teaching: Gesar came to be widely regarded… Read More

Masters of esoteric knowledge and miraculous practices, the lineage of the Karmapas is the earliest of all the recognized incarnate lineages and is said to descend from the great Indian tantric master Tilopa through a chain that includes Naropa, Marpa, and Milarepa. The Karmapas are distinguished by their black crowns, said to have been woven by dakinis and symbolizing the activity of the buddhas. Unlike other Tibetan Buddhist lineage… Read More

A tulku is a fully enlightened one (buddha) or highly accomplished adept (siddha) who chooses to be reborn again and again for the benefit of all beings. Most tulkus, though, are the rebirths of well-trained masters who are engaged in spiritual training and serving others. Tibetan Buddhists have, for well over a millennium, been meticulously following the tradition of finding, recognizing, enthroning, training, and venerating these revered figures who provide… Read More